Airway obstruction complications can arise when a patient is lying in the supine position while unconscious in an operating room or at any other emergency site. For example, when an unconscious person is resting in the supine position, the person either being sedated or anesthetized, gravity will pull the person's tongue downwards (towards the cervical spine) and the tongue will obstruct the airway and impede respiration, partially or completely. The above example might cause a life-threatening situation if the airway obstruction is not cleared, for hypoxemia and death can quickly ensue.
Anesthesiologists commonly overcome airway obstruction by tilting the patient's head backwards and pulling the chin up and away from the body (cephalad). Obstruction is avoided because the base of the tongue is attached to the mandible, and by pulling the chin up the tongue will be simultaneously pulled upward. This practice is very fatiguing and restricts the anesthesiologist's ability to perform other functions that require two hands.
An upper airway can also be maintained open by inserting various medical tubes into the body, for example, nasal-pharyngeal, oral-pharyngeal, end tracheal, laryngeal mask airway (LMA) and the cuffed oral pharyngeal. As of today, there are no medical devices in common use that attach externally to the face that will maintain an open upper airway.
In the past, practitioners have used surgical tape to attempt to maintain an open upper airway. Practitioners would secure tape around the chin of a patient and then attach the ends of the tape to an operating table. Tape procedures are unsatisfactory; for the tape attachment does not provide the upward pull required on the chin to maintain an open upper airway. Other complications with this procedure might be as follows: eye damage (this might occur when the tape securing the patient's chain graces the eye of the patient, gracing might occur if patient coughs or moves his head and skin trauma.
Chin props comprising a ball on the end of an arm secured to the operating room table have also been used to push the chin up. They too have proven unsatisfactory and are not commonly used. The reason that this type of chain prop is unsatisfactory is that they are large and cumbersome and get in the way of surgeons operating on the upper body. Furthermore, if misapplied they may constrict the airway. Chin props are designed to function with suitable operating tables that have complex mechanisms. Therefore, some chin props are not suitable for the use at accident sites or in ambulances transporting the injured.
Information relevant to attempts to address these problems can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,494,048, 6,200,285 B1, and 6,196,224 B1. However, each one of these references suffers from one or more of the following disadvantages:                1. Can cause eye damage;        2. Require suitable operating tables;        3. Obstruct the view of the patient;        4. Do not provide sufficient upward leverage to the chin;        5. Do not lend themselves to use in accident situations;        6. Do not prevent airway obstruction; and        7. Difficulties in removal of devices, should complications arise.        
Inside and outside the operating room, a need exists for equipment that maintains an open airway. This equipment should be compatible and improve the effectiveness of oral-pharyngeal and nasal-pharyngeal airways and face masks. In the operating room, such equipment might reduce the need for the use of expensive endotracheal tubes in general anesthesia and allow mask anesthesia to be used for sedated patients. Outside the operating room, a need exists for compact equipment that will maintain an open airway and that can be used in cramped quarters such as an ambulance, hyperbaric chamber and an MRI chamber.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a medical device that will maintain an open airway in the anesthetized and sedated patient lying in a supine position in an operating room and any unconscious patient lying in the supine position at any site. To be effective, the equipment should be safe and easy to use, and the procedure for its use should be simple and reliable. The equipment should free up the operators' hands; render oral and nasal pharyngeal airways more effective and not interfere with but facilitate the use of a mask. The equipment should be free standing and portable.